Mace Bearer

Published 05/07/2017

2017 Parade Mace Bearer Announced

The Gaspee Days Committee is pleased to announce the Mace Bearer for the 2017 parade as Kasmin J. Yarn, Rhode Island's first Director of Veterans Affair. Kasmin is a an active-duty naval officer who is will soon be retiring after 20 years of military service.

The Rhode Island Mace has been carried at the head of the Gaspee Days Parade every year since the first observance of Gaspee Days in June 1966. The Mace has been used in the Inaugural ceremonies for Rhode Island Governors by the High Sheriff of Providence County since Governor Charles D. Kimball was sworn in on January 7, 1902.

The Mace, made of historic fragments of wood, is closely associated with the historical backgrounds of the state and the nation. The eagle on the top of the mace was carried through the Civil War on top of a staff which wore a Union battle flag. Part of the wood was once take from the much hated British revenue schooner H.M.S Gaspee which was burned after being caught on a sand bar off Gaspee Point on the evening of June 9, 1772. Another portion of the wood came from colonial Governor Arthur Fenner's homestead in Cranston, which was built in 1680 and demolished in 1895.

Gaspee Days Committee events run from May 4th thru June 11th. For more information on Gaspee Days visit gaspee.com